County man in 'Cannonball Run' race

St. Johns racer and aftermarket tuner Sean Roe sits at the wheel of the 2011 Dodge Ram pickup that won the 2011 Autoweek America Adventure. Now he and co-pilot Torrie McPhail embark on the 2012 event in the truck after some serious modifications.

Parked in his St. Johns garage, Sean Roe's 2011 Dodge Ram pickup truck shows off its 2012 Autoweek America Adventure modifications - 22-inch wheels and tires, a red and black vinyl wrap, new headlights, a bed cover and all of his sponsor's decals.

The Autoweek America Adventure is part “Cannonball Run” with a bit of TV’s “Amazing Race” and some navigation and high-speed skills thrown in.

Now all St. Johns County racer Sean Roe and customer-turned-co-pilot Torrie McPhail of Massachusetts have to do is repeat last year’s win in this week’s second annual road rally/scavenger hunt/track event.

Roe and McPhail’s Ram truck embarks Wednesday from Colorado Springs against 24 other competitors in high-bucks exotics and muscle cars. The adventure ends Tuesday inside the huge Speciality Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas after tackling each day’s multitude of challenges.

The competition tests team driving skills across 2,000 miles of road, plus various race tracks and off-road venues. Points are earned by solving clues, winning track events and navigating each stage on time at the speed limit.

The team with the most points each day wins one of seven keys that may start a 2013 Chrysler 300 SRT sedan. Team Roe Racing was the overall high-point winner last year, but another team’s key won the Dodge Charger prize.

Roe worked with Jacksonville’s Brumos Racing in 1986 before racing himself in 10 different series in three countries. He now runs Roe Racing, which does performance modifications on Vipers and other vehicles. McPhail is a Natick, Mass., resident whose Unleashed Tuning does the same for Fords and Chevrolets. He met Roe after seeking go-fast goodies for his Viper.

Roe invited him to co-pilot after learning about last year’s AutoWeek event when another team sought his sponsorship.

“They did such a great job of proposing it that I decided to enter it myself because it looked like so much fun, and it really was,” Roe said.

A $5,000 entry fee got them in this year’s event. But after last year’s roads and track challenges, Roe modified his 2011 winning truck with a lowered suspension, 22-inch American Outlaw wheels and tires, bigger brakes and engine upgrades. Inside a new red and black vinyl wrap, they have a laptop computer, iPad and cellphone to navigate and file updates on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

“The truck will have live GPS so you can track it all the time and we will have intermittent live video streaming,” Roe said.